Ms Thuy Thi Vu, a former finance analyst at the Darwin branch of Alldrive Holdings Pty Ltd, trading as United Financial Services (WA), has been convicted and sentenced in the Local Court in Darwin on nine charges of submitting false or misleading information in support of loan applications.

Ms Vu was convicted after admitting to providing information and documents in support of nine loan applications to Esanda, a division of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ), knowing that they contained false or misleading information. 

Generally, the loan applicants had been referred to United Financial Services WA (UFS) for finance by car yards in the Northern Territory as they were seeking finance.

Ms Vu submitted loan applications and documents which mispresented the address of the loan applicants by changing their postcodes from remote postcodes to suburban postcodes.

Ms Vu was convicted and required to enter into a recognizance in the sum of $2000 to be of good behaviour for a period of 12 months.

ASIC Deputy Chair Peter Kell said, 'Documentation provided by third parties in support of loan applications must reflect the consumer's true personal and financial circumstances so that lenders can accurately assess their ability to repay a loan.'

'Any actions taken by brokers or intermediaries to deliberately undermine this process is a criminal offence and ASIC will ensure offenders are brought before the Courts.'

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) prosecuted the matter.  

Background

ASIC's investigation found that between June and August 2015, Ms Vu submitted nine loan applications containing false information and documents relating to the borrower's residential address postcode. The nine loans were approved and disbursed, totalling $238,069. The nine loan applications ranged in value from $9,916 to $44,797.

By submitting these loan applications, Ms Vu represented to Esanda that the loan applicants lived in suburbs of the commercial centres of Darwin, Katherine or Alice Springs when the loan applicants in fact lived in postcodes which spanned hundreds of kilometres from these locations. 

The false information resulted in loans being approved that the lender would otherwise have rejected or referred for further assessment.

Alldrive was also able to finance the sales of add-on products (such as consumer credit insurance, gap insurance and warranties) to earn commissions on their sale.

Since becoming the national regulator of consumer credit on 1 July 2010, ASIC has taken actions against a number of other loan-writers, representatives or brokers operating in the car finance market, for conduct such as:

• obtaining cars for consumers with poor credit histories, by arranging for a third party to sign the loan contract as a borrower (when that person thought they were only a guarantor);
• arranging for the consumer to buy a car at an inflated sale price, and obtaining a secret profit from the mark-up in price; and
• financing insurance and warranty products without the knowledge or consent of the consumers.